Nowadays, artificial leather, which is made by impregnating polymeric elastomer into non-woven fabric with three-dimensionally crosslinked micro-fibers, is widely used in various fields for shoes, clothes, gloves, sundry goods, Upholsteries, vehicle interior materials, and so on, because it has soft touch and unique appearance similar to those of natural leather.
There is a demand for advanced artificial leather having high functionality in flexibility, surface quality, abrasion resistance, light resistance, or elongation property according to its purpose and use. Especially, the elongation property is highly demanded when manufacturing goods with a flexed region. This is because the application of the artificial leather with the inferior elongation property to the flexed region might have lots of creases thereon during its manufacturing process.
For example, a headliner adhered to the inside roof of the vehicle is provided with lots of flexed regions according to the shape of vehicle. Thus, if the artificial leather with the inferior elongation property is used for the headliner, the creases generated during the manufacturing process may cause deterioration of quality. In this respect, the artificial leather to be used for the goods with lots of flexed regions such as the headliner has to obtain the excellent elongation property. However, if the elongation property of the artificial leather is too great, the artificial leather is excessively elongated during the manufacturing process, whereby it might have the aforementioned problem of the creases. Accordingly, there is a need for artificial leather with the optimal elongation, which is appropriate for manufacturing the goods.